The Source
by Eris R. Lebeau
Summary: Finding out the truth will mean betraying everything she has become... Follows events in "Soft as an Orliandis Petal"
1. This Ridiculous game

Kaeldryn paced the width of her tiny office, habitually keeping count of the iterations. Outside the portal, the stars sailed past the host vessel at a rate that indicated hetch two or three. Every few microts, she would glance at the portal, liking the sense of momentum it gave her. She needed to feel she was moving on after today's lapse in judgment.

Even so, she felt compelled to remain in her office. Until she received a comm about the prisoner's escape, she didn't trust herself to be seen by either her reports or her superiors. Her present demeanor bore no resemblance to the prescribed comportment for an officer of the Tranquility Guard. Her hair had fallen from its neat updo, and she kept making it worse by fussing with it, tucking it behind her ears one macrot and then twirling it in her fingers the next. Her hands felt cold, yet sweat profusely, and she alternated between rubbing them together and sticking them in her pants pockets for warmth.

It was as if her interrogation of Chiana had somehow erased ten cycles of training. Readings, lectures, conformity exercises, vows of singularity of purpose-- all rendered meaningless. When Kaeldryn had willingly given Chiana her identity chip and the knife, she had betrayed everything she had worked so hard to become.

Even as a child, Chiana had been a generous thief, stealing sweets from the school kitchens and passing them out capriciously to her classmates. Now Kaeldryn wondered exactly what her old friend had done to her. By compelling Kaeldryn to help free her, had Chiana taken something from her or given her a gift? Perhaps both.

Her comm chirped, shattering her thoughts and causing her to jump.

"_Officer Kaeldryn_? _I'm outside your door with information you may prefer to hear in person." _Candra's voice gave no clue as to her mental state, but the words themselves boded well. 

Kaeldryn's heart jumped and an unstoppable grin spread across her face. News that necessitated private, personal delivery from her most trusted subordinate could only be bad news, like that of a moderate-priority prisoner having disappeared. Chiana's escape would be a humiliating failure for Kaeldryn, but in this instance, failure was what she craved. Feeling dizzy with hope, she pushed her hair back behind her ears, smoothed the front of the blouse, and forced her features into an expression of impassive serenity.

She tapped her comm. "_Come in, Candra._"

Responding to Kaeldryn's voice, the door slid open to reveal a diminutive Nebari woman with straight, jaw-length hair, high cheekbones and a statuesque figure. Normally, Kaeldryn would take the opportunity to admire Candra as she made her report-- and why not? She was like a work of art-- but now she stood at the portal window, using the stars as an excuse to avoid her subordinate's eyes.

"You must have been concentrating very hard," Candra remarked. "I hit the door chime several times."

"Yes. Concentrating." She glanced at Candra and saw the woman shrug.

"Well, while you were so intensely occupied, the prisoner you interrogated today escaped."

"That is ... regrettable and disturbing news. Thank you for bringing it to my attention." She turned and favored Candra with her best vague, Tranquility Guard smile.

"Specifically," Candra continued, her lips twitching with the hint of an ironic grin, "the prisoner who escaped is Chiana."

"You anticipate the question before I ask, as usual. Very good." Involuntarily, one of her hands went to her head, smoothing her hair in a habitual nervous gesture.

"I thought you might also like to be informed that there was an unfortunate data loss related to the prisoner interrogation recordings."

Kaeldryn winced as she mentally replayed Candra's last statement. _You might also like to be informed... _Not _you might also like to _know, because she already _knew, _but _you might like to _be informed. She needed Candra, or at least someone, to inform her so she could have a plausible explanation as to why she knew. And Candra was aware of that. Or perhaps she was seeing layers of meaning that weren't there.

"It is not a great loss," Kaeldryn assured her subordinate. "Chiana's story gave no answers. It only raised questions."

Candra nodded slowly, her eyes locked with Kaeldryn's. "I see. And these questions are something you want answered?"

An offer? Kaeldryn hardly dared hope. A solar day ago, she would have said she trusted Candra implicitly, with anything, but that was before her meeting with Chiana. Now, she chose her words as carefully as she would choose her movements when cornering a feral, rabid drannit. Even if Candra's loyalty truly was to Kaeldryn and not the Establishment, a wrong move could have them both being sent off for adjustment. After all, the host vessel's cameras recorded everything, and another convenient "data loss" would be too hard to blame on coincidence.

"Chiana blamed the Establishment for infecting her and her brother with an illness she called the contagion. She had a conspiracy theory about it being a biological warfare agent. Supposedly, the dissidents from the exodus ten cycles ago were used as carriers." Kaeldryn watched Candra's face for any hint of feeling, but like a good Tranquility Guard, the woman gave nothing away.

"Ah. And you wish to find the source." After a pause, Candra added, "Of these wild accusations against the Establishment."

"I wish to know the truth. Will you help me?"

Candra shrugged, a gesture that did impressive things to her torso and made Kaeldryn wish she didn't have to send her away. "You don't have to ask. I took the oath of singularity of purpose and you are my commanding officer."

Kaeldryn nodded. "Very well. I want you to retrace Nerri and Chiana's footsteps and find out with whom they had extended contact. I believe the contagion may be a real phenomenon."

"Perhaps a resistance effort to discredit the Establishment?" Candra wondered out loud. "Creating a threat and obfuscating its source is not unprecedented."

"Perhaps. I need you to be discrete in your operations and report your findings confidentially to me. I believe Chiana's journey would have started on Morlon."

"Morlon," Candra repeated. "I'll prepare a transport."

"Very good." Kaeldryn wanted to say so much more, but she kept her tone cold and dismissive, her smile empty.

Candra tilted her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. "One more point of discussion, Officer Kaeldryn... Chiana must be very clever to have stolen your identity chip and escaped from the host vessel."

The smile twisted her lips before she could stop it. "She is that."

"And is that why you... _value_ her?" Candra raised both eyebrows and folded her arms across her chest. She tilted her chin upward as if daring Kaeldryn to lie to her.

Kaeldryn met the other woman's eyes and then shook her head. "No."

"I see." Those two syllables were like twin shafts of ice. She might as well have said, _you're lying. _

Kaeldryn shook her head again, racking her brain for a way to convince Candra she was still playing by the rules of this ridiculous game, telling the literal truth without saying anything to implicate herself. Her answer had been honest; though she had always admired Chi's cleverness, it had never been the reason Kaeldryn loved her. She had loved Chiana for being the person she herself wanted to be, doing the things she wanted to do and usually getting away with them.

Candra shrugged. "Never mind. However, I must ask... if I run across the escaped prisoner, Chiana, what are my orders?"

"That you will _attempt_ to apprehend her."

"That I can promise." Candra flashed a genuine smile and then turned toward the door.

"Wait!" Kaeldryn stuffed her hands into her pockets to hide their trembling. When Candra had turned back to face her, she continued, "The recordings of the interrogation... they... may not be a total loss. Is it possible that someone else had already watched them before the unfortunate data corruption error? I... could... cross-check my memory with whoever did..."

Candra shook her head. "No. To the best of my knowledge, no one outside this room has seen those recordings."

_And you won't admit you have. It would destroy your plausible deniability, frell you! _

"That answers my question. You may go." Kaeldryn nodded dismissively and gestured to the door.

Once Candra had left, Kaeldryn slumped into her desk chair, exhausted. In all likelihood, she had just sent her most valued report on a wild chik chase. She probably didn't have to worry about dealing with the truth, because the chances of Candra finding any useful information from ten cycles ago were negligible to nonexistent. Still-- if she did learn that the Establishment had used Nebari people as carriers, had used _Chiana_ as a living weapon, what would she do about it? 


	2. There is Good News

From snatches of overheard conversation, Chiana gathered that they were calling it "the exodus," and it was the reason the Sanctuary's spaceport was packed to capacity with Nebari. She had never visited the spaceport before, but she doubted it was usually this much fun. Most of the other Escapees – that's what they were calling themselves, and you could hear the capital-- looked about Nerri's age, and they were celebrating every chance they got. The smells of rasklak and sweat hung heavy in the air, which was blue-tinged and hazy from orliandis leaf smoke.

In one of the waiting areas, all the chairs had been pushed into a corner to make room for dancing. A young man with locks of curly black hair hanging over his eyes beat a fast rhythm on a set of hand drums. He had rolled up his sleeves and unbuttoned the front of his shirt to keep cool, or maybe to entice the group of young women who stared at his hard-working muscles. A girl Chiana's age sat nearby playing some sort of flute, and some of the dancers also sang. Most of them were horribly off key, not that it mattered. The song was a fun one, the kind you could sing off key without messing it up too bad, the kind her parents had on their old datachips.

Her feet moving of their own accord, Chiana began to drift toward the dance floor, her lips moving to the words of the song. A firm hand closed on her upper arm and a sharp tug made her stumble and almost drop her pack.

"Patience, little sister. Our transport arrives soon." Nerri let go of her arm and helped adjust the straps on her pack so it sat comfortably again.

"Not fair. We're missing the party! How come we've gotta leave so early? You know my grandchildren are gonna ask, 'Were you part of the exodus, Grandma Chi?' and I'll say, 'Sure!' and they'll say, 'So, what wild, fahrbot, fun things did you do?' and I'll say, 'I waited in line for a krastic transport while your great uncle Nerri held me back like a frelling Establishment tig!'" She folded her arms across her chest and stuck her bottom lip out in an exaggerated pout.

Nerri laughed and landed a playful punch on her arm. "Even the tigs are having fun-- look at that one over by the drummer. He's trying to look like a hard-eema, but he's tapping his foot. And every few macrots he starts staring at the flute player and smiling. Can't say I blame him. She's pretty drad."

"Ugh!" Chiana rolled her eyes. "You're kinkoid. She's a kid my age."

"Guess that makes old man tig magra-kinkoid then. Besides, you're not a kid on most planets, not from what I've heard." He glanced from the flute player to Chiana and scowled. "That's why I'll have to look out for you."

"Great! I've got the one-man Establishment on my eema. Thanks." She stuck out her tongue and then jerked her head to get her hair out of her eyes. "So, where we going, anyway?"

"Morlon."

"Morlon, huh? That's as far as you could get us?" Chiana regretted the question when she saw the look on Nerri's face. He hadn't saved much money from his work as a welder, but it was all they had. "It's ok! It's drad-- really! It'll be fun there." She hoped she sounded convincing.

"Probably not." Nerri sighed and readjusted his pack. "Look, I'll find work. We'll find someplace to stay. You can just stay out of trouble. When we get enough money, we move on. I promise."

Chiana tilted her head and regarded her brother with narrowed eyes. "What? What is it you're not--"

The sound of the spaceport chime cut through the music and noise and caused Chiana to reflexively cover her ears, wincing from the pain caused by the loud, high-pitched bell. An equally loud, artificially cheerful voice informed them that the transport for Morlon had arrived in docking bay seven.

"That's us!" With a smile, Nerri grabbed one of her hands and started jogging toward the doorway with the glowing numeral seven above it.

She let herself be dragged along and noted that the people headed in the same direction had a fundamentally different look than the ones staying behind or going the opposite way. Instead of being mostly young, they were a variety of ages, and included the only children Chiana had seen in the spaceport. There were even a few that must have been too old to walk on their own, since they leaned on their middle-aged companions. Their clothes were different too. Most of the women wore dark, baggy dresses instead of the more common laborer slacks or technician jumpsuits. Members of the scholar class often wore dresses, but these women didn't quite look like scholars. The weirdest part was the fact that the men wore dresses too.

Chiana felt suddenly out of place in her close-fitting school uniform, not that she minded a few stares. Nerri was getting curious looks too, and as they got closer to the door, she realized that of all the people boarding the transport for Morlon, they were the only two wearing pants.

She snickered and elbowed Nerri. "Looks like we're in with all the kinkoids. Check out all the men in dresses-- they're lucky they're not getting shipped off to a camp!"

"Yeah," Nerri agreed vaguely as he passed his hand over a scanner, which beeped and flashed a green light.

Chiana touched the scanner and followed Nerri up a ramp and onto the transport. She noted with disappointment that the transport didn't have anyplace nice to sit, and worse yet, that it had no windows. She had been looking forward to watching the stars go by, but she kept her complaints to herself and sat down on an empty shipping pallet near a family of dress-wearing weirdos.

The woman of the family turned to smile at Chiana in a vaguely creepy, tig-like way. "Forgive me, but you and the young man don't look like pilgrims."

"Pilgrims?" Chiana repeated, laughing. "Frell no! We're Escapees, just like you, right?"

The woman clutched the toddler at her side more tightly and edged away from Chiana, muttering something that sounded like, "And'wer, save us," under her breath.

"Excuse my sister's language." Nerri sat down near Chiana's feet and smiled at the woman. "We also travel in peace to Morlon."

Looking unconvinced, the woman stood up and went to sit on the other side of her husband.

"Ok, level with me, big brother!" Chiana hissed. "What is it with Morlon and these kinkoids?"

He shrugged. "They're leaving because they don't like the Establishment."

"Well, I'm leaving because the Establishment doesn't like me, so we should get along just fine. Why're they looking at us like we're about to bite or something?" She flashed a grin at the woman's husband and watched him avert his eyes and huddle closer to his family.

"Look, it was as far as I could take us! We have to save our money--"

"Yeah, ok, I wasn't complaining, I just want to know what we're getting into!"

Nerri sighed and looked her in the eyes. "Morlon is a puritan colony. These people, they don't like the Establishment because they think it's too lax with the Code of And'wer. They see that tig that was ogling the flute player, and they probably think he should be flogging her instead."

"They got a problem with music?" Chiana would have laughed, except that Nerri didn't look like he was joking.

"Yes, actually, but that's another story. She had her skirt tied up over her knees."

"So?" Chiana shrugged. "Who cares? Mom and Dad took us to places where food servers dress like that all the time!"

"Well, that's why these people are leaving." He dropped his voice down to a whisper. "Look, you're right, Chi, we are in with the kinkoids, they're just not--"

"Not the fun, harmless kind. I get it." She wanted to cry, but from the look in Nerri's eyes he was about to do the same, and she couldn't let that happen, so she forced a smile. "It's fine. You find work, I stay out of trouble, we get our eemas off the planet as soon as we can."

"Can you really stay out of trouble, little sister?" Nerri's smile didn't touch his eyes.

"Frell, yes! Look, it wasn't my fault Kael's dad decided to walk in the second she decided to be a little tinked!"

Nerri chuckled. "It's not just that and you know it. You're gonna have to stop taking things that aren't yours and doing everything you can to get out of work. You're also going to have to start watching your language, and you're probably going to have to get one of those dresses--"

"You first!" Chiana giggled, imagining her brother in a dress.

"There is good news!"

Those words came from behind her and she turned to see a young man about Nerri's age smiling down at her. Even in the baggy dress, she could tell he had nice, wide shoulders, not that it mattered much; with that face, he could be as scrawny as a flag pole and still make girls fahrbot over him. He wore his hair long and loose, and she wanted to run her hands through it.

She tilted her head back, looked up at him, and grinned. "Good news, huh?"

He nodded seriously and sat down beside her on the floor. "It is neither chance nor poverty that guides you to Morlon, but rather the mercy of Nay'savevyen."

Chiana shot Nerri a quizzical look over the young man's head.

Her brother mouthed the words, "Play along," and shrugged.

"Who's that?" Chiana asked. "Are you Nay'say-whatever? Is that your name? I'm Chiana."

"Chiana," the man repeated, as if her name were the most tragic thing he had ever heard. "I am Derith. Do you really not know the name of Nay'savevyen?"

"Maybe..." she bit her lip, wracking her brains for associations. "Sounds kinda like what they call the solar system, but you say it different."

Derith winced. "Yes. The blasphemers have perverted the name of our hallowed creator and used it as a mere designation."

"Lousy blasphemers!" Chiana struggled to keep herself from breaking into a grin as she met Nerri's eyes.

Her brother's mouth trembled as well, but he shook his head and mouthed, "Stay out of trouble!"

"So you do hope to learn the ways of the true Code, then?" The smile that Derith gave her made his eyes sparkle like Kaeldryn's and Chiana couldn't help thinking he'd be even more fun to kiss.

"You seem so wise!" Chiana batted her eyelashes and conceded the battle with her lips, allowing them to curve into a full smile. "Will you teach me?"

Nerri shook his head and heaved a dramatic sigh. As he looked from Chiana to Derith, he muttered, "And'wer save us!"

***

Kaeldryn deleted the file from Candra with a sigh of resignation. There was no real information yet, just the fact that Candra had visited the Sanctuary spaceport and had verified that Chiana's first designation had indeed been Morlon. Apparently, Candra was now on Morlon, searching for a man named Derith. Kaeldryn's mind raced in circles, filling in the details of Chiana's story because she needed so badly to know what had happened to her friend. She knew imagined events were a false comfort. These daydreams were as toxic in their own way as the smoke of burning orliandis leaves. Still-- even imagined knowledge was preferable to the cold void of ignorance; better to breathe poisoned air than none.

She brought a fist down toward her console keypad, stopping her hand just in time to avoid any painful destruction. _Frell you, Candra! I need something more. _


	3. Whatever I Have to Do

Kaeldryn winced and nearly doubled over from the sudden, stabbing pain in her abdomen. When she had rigged the comm to deliver a shock instead of sound or vibration, she had fancied herself a genius. Now, she decided it might have been better to risk exposure by letting the thing chime or buzz. The worst part was, she was alone in her office and no one would have noticed anyway.

She stood, stretched, and walked calmly to her quarters where she took off her uniform and stepped into the shower, careful to hold the comm just outside the range of the spray. As far as she knew, the Establishment was telling the truth when they promised there were no cameras here, and if anyone was recording audio, it should be masked by the sound of the water.

She brought her lips close to the comm and whispered, "Candra?"

"_I have a blood sample from Derith." _

"And?" Kaeldryn prompted.

"_And I'm keeping it in a stasis box until I gather enough different specimens to have a statistically meaningful set of immunoassays. This won't be trivial. At least I think I know where she went next. According to Derith, she and Nerri left on a transport for Jardereen." _

"Jardereen? How would they have paid for passage to Jardereen from Morlon? That's two systems away!"

"_I sent an encrypted file that contains my interview with Derith. You can read it." _

"Thank you. Candra... be careful and return as soon as possible."

"_I am always careful, Officer Kaeldryn. And I realize the necessity of a timely return." _

Candra's flat, dead tone left Kaeldryn feeling cold inside, even though the water streaming over her body was hot enough to fog the air. She had been so sure that the woman's conformity was as much an act as her own... Perhaps she had seen what she wanted to see and not the truth.

"I could meet you at Jardereen to receive your report in person." She fought to keep her voice casual, to make it sound as if she didn't care either way.

"_No! Absolutely not! Just... no." _After a pause and an audible sigh, she added, _"Kaeldryn... trust me. You would only further raise suspicion by becoming too involved in this, and besides, this mission is difficult enough without any more added complications."_

"Any more?" Kaeldryn repeated.

The comm had gone dead. She wrapped her fingers around it as if clutching a lifeline. _What have I sent you into, Candra? What are you not telling me? _

_***_

"Take one more step and I will frelling kill you."

"Not the greeting I expected, little sister." Nerri sighed and leaned against the doorway.

She dropped her brush in the bucket of soapy water, wiped her hands on the front of her dress, and stood up. Her back muscles spasmed at the sudden change in position, and her arms ached from scrubbing. She probably had blisters on her knees.

"Well, you're filthy!" She gestured to Nerri's soil-blackened robes and muddy boots. "Frell if I'll let you mess up the kitchen floor."

"But I can mess up the hallway?"

"Why not?" She shrugged, and that simple gesture sent flames of pain shooting through her back and shoulders. "It's Ranie's job. Kitchen's mine, and I'm--" she glanced furtively around to make sure they were truly alone before finishing, "I'm done."

Nerri chuckled. "Let me guess-- you finish, they give you more work?"

"Yeah."

"And if you don't do it...?" Nerri probed.

She shrugged again, stubbornly ignoring the pain. "Wouldn't know! You told me I couldn't keep trying to get out of work, so I don't."

If Nerri could tell she was lying, he gave no sign. Instead, he looked wistfully over her shoulder at the basket of bread on the counter top.

She snatched a loaf and tossed it to him. She'd been told not to touch the food, and she half-suspected the bread was some kind of test of her spiritual worth, but frell that. Nerri had every right to eat after digging in the dirt all day. Besides, maybe if the house steward beat her again, he'd hit her hard enough to put her out of commission and then she could rest.

"Thanks!" Nerri muttered around a mouthful of bread.

"No problem. How much've you made so far? How soon do we get out of here?"

He grimaced. "That's going to be a problem."

She put her hands on her hips and glared. "How soon?"

"I don't know! The problem is that no one here seems to get paid. I dig, you scrub, all we get is food and a bed. I ask about when we get paid and I get smacked for being 'clouded by visions of worldly reward'. All that dren in the temple services about the glory of serving Nay'savevyen forever-- I think they mean it!"

"That's a load of dren!" She shook her head in disgust.

"I know it is, but they believe it."

"My eema! They don't-- they don't believe it any more than I do, not the ones that matter anyway! I had to serve breakfast to the frodanks on the Holy High Council today. All I need to do is get the rings off a few fat, lazy fingers, and we could be gone!" She grinned.

"No one would buy the loot. It's too obvious where it came from. Don't bother risking it."

"Yeah, ok." The plunge into utter despair came as suddenly as the rush she had felt when she imagined taking the rings. Tears gushed down her cheeks and she couldn't hold back a sob.

Nerri crossed the room, leaving a trail of black boot prints on the white tile, and put his arms around her. "We'll think of something, Chi." He ran a hand down her back, and she whimpered before she could stop herself.

Nerri took her by the shoulders and stepped back so he could look her in the eyes. "So you did try to get out of work. Chiana! I warned you!"

"Whatever. It's not that bad." She snorted and tossed her hair out her eyes. "Least I get to see Derith tomorrow. He promised he'd come by to check on me."

"Stay away from Derith!" Nerri squeezed down on her shoulders for emphasis.

"He's-- he's nice to me. We're friends." She sniffled. "Look, I miss Mom and Dad and Kael, and you're gone all day."

"His father sits on the High Council, Chi. If we were back at the Sanctuary, would you go around getting in trouble with the son of a tig? Ah, don't answer that. Just listen to your big brother for once. Please?" He let go of her shoulders, knelt down, and retrieved the brush from the bucket of water. "Here, I'll help with the mess I made."

She shook her head, smiling in spite of everything. "Go take a bath! You're just making it worse. Now I've got knee prints and boot prints."

"Sorry." Nerri handed her the brush and stood up, looking sheepish.

"Don't worry about it."

"About Derith--" He gave her a serious, pleading look.

"Yeah, dad's on the High Council. I heard you." She rolled her eyes. "Look, I'll do whatever I have to do whether I like it or not, ok?"

"Good. I'll think of something, little sister. Just stay out of trouble."

"Whatever I have to do," she repeated. Once he had left, she muttered to herself, "Whether you like it or not." 


	4. The Wire Between Truth and Lies

Chiana closed her eyes, tilted her head back, and enjoyed the feel of the sun on her face. The musky perfume of some alien flower wafted by on the almost imperceptible breeze, and she inhaled with a contented sigh. In spite of the heat, being out under the sky again felt like a well-deserved gift from the vaunted Nay'savevyen.

"You like the gardens?" Derith asked.

They had just exited the High Council living quarters and were making their way down a stone path that wound through what looked like metras of manicured trees and carefully patterned flowerbeds. She had never seen so much green, or so much of any color, for that matter, in her life. There were growing places in the Sanctuary, but they were glass buildings, and the only way to visit them was to go with a school group or sneak in. Morlon appeared to be one gigantic growing place that went on forever.

She smiled up at Derith. She had to crane her neck a little because he was so tall, and she liked that. "I love 'em! Seeing this-- it almost makes me..." She trailed off, wishing she could say what she wanted to. She had to pretend she actually liked it here or Derith would scold her.

"Makes you what?" He prompted.

"Uh, makes me as... happy as... serving the Holy High Council. Almost! I said, 'almost'!"

"Such enthusiasm!" Derith chuckled. "It's alright, Chiana. The newly enlightened are expected to have doubts and struggles. You do not have to pretend with me."

"I'm not--" she began reflexively. Seeing his raised eyebrow, she shrugged. "Ok. I don't like scrubbing floors. And the gardens are pretty, but it's so frelling hot... Can I just take off this itchy dress thing? I have something under it!"

Without waiting for a reply, she peeled off the heavy robe, rolled it up, and tucked it under her arm. She was pretty sure he would have said "no" when she asked to take off the dress, but equally certain that he wouldn't try to wrestle her back into it. The shift she wore under it was so sheer and light that it stirred in the faint breeze. Best of all, it had a low-cut back that let her air out the cuts an scrapes.

When she glanced at Derith, he wasn't staring at her loomas through the thin fabric like she'd expected. Instead, he was giving her the same look Nerri had given her when he had touched her back and she'd yelped.

"I see your struggles have been greater than I had thought." He raised a soft, long-fingered hand and touched her back so gently that it actually felt good.

She shrugged. "Yeah, well, I'm lazy, and I steal when I'm hungry, and I say what I frelling want to most of the time. I'd probably beat me too if I were the house steward."

"No, you wouldn't." He shook his head and ran a finger over her shoulder blade, up her collar bone, and across her jaw. "Your character has its excesses, but no deficiencies. You do not lack kindness or compassion."

She fought back a surprise attack of tears. "Nobody's-- nobody's ever said anything like that to me."

"Then no one has looked upon you through the eyes of Nay'savevyen, Chiana." He gestured to a nearby bench. "Sit. I'll return in a moment."

She did as he instructed, careful to avoid leaning against the back of the bench and reopening her wounds. The effort of withholding the tears made her eyes ache until the pain dwarfed that in her back. She stared straight ahead, trying to focus on the pink, dinner-plate sized flowers on of the trees.

When Derith came back, he had an oblong orange fruit in his hand. Standing behind her, he squeezed the fruit and let its juice run over her broken skin. It felt warm and cool at the same time, tingling and taking away the pain. He tossed the spent fruit into one of the flowerbeds and used his fingers to spread the miraculous liquid over the rest of her back.

She closed her eyes and sighed. "That just grows on a tree, huh? That's pretty drad."

"Nay'savevyen provides."

Those words were whispered in her ear, and when she opened her eyes, she saw Derith had sat down next to her on the bench. The look on his face was agonizingly familiar. It wasn't quite the one she got from the krastic guys at school who tried to grab her eema in the hallways, and it wasn't quite the one Nerri gave her when he called her "little sister". It was a look she had only seen a few times before, and she hadn't understood it then. The only other person who had ever looked at her this way was Kaeldryn.

Their faces denched closer, and she repeated the phrase, _whatever I have to do, _over and over again as if it were a prayer. Before their lips met, she jerked her head away and scooted across the bench. He'd probably be sorry after he kissed her, so it might only happen once. And she had to make sure that the timing was right when it did.

She looked down at the ground, not wanting to meet his eyes. "Uh, this is gonna sound tinked, but-- Do you know if anyone records, uh, the temple services?"

"Yes. The recordings are kept in the hall of archives. Why?" He tilted his head and gave a puzzled smile.

"Well, I've got a lot of, uh, catching up to do. With Nay'savevyen. But I don't see a lot of technology around here, so I didn't know if they even made recordings."

"I can take you to the hall of archives and you can pick out what you would like to learn." He sounded so genuinely excited that her stomach twisted into a knot.

"Another day, ok?" She glanced up, saw him nod, and then looked back at the ground. "This is gonna sound even weirder--"

"I like answering your questions, Chiana!" He laughed.

"Yeah, ok. Well, you believe-- you believe Nay'savevyen forgives us even if we do something really krastic?"

He cupped her chin and turned her face toward him. "Believe this-- believe _me_, Chiana. You are not capable of doing anything that cannot be forgiven."

"Wish I could believe you, Derith. I really wish I could."

She couldn't fight the tears any longer, and she couldn't fight him when he moved his hand to the back of her head and pulled her against his shoulder. _I'll do what I have to do! _She shouted the words in her mind, not exactly sure who she was shouting at.

***

Candra's comm chirped and she reached automatically for the one in her left pocket before realizing the sound had come from the one in her right. Grimacing, she set the transport on autopilot, took out the device, and spoke into it.

"Candra here."

"_Have you discovered why Officer Kaeldryn sent you on this mission?" _

Such a complicated word, "why." The person on the other end of the comm, whoever he was, clearly didn't know how to play the game. You didn't ask "why" if you wanted a straight answer out of someone. Where, who, when-- those were all handy tools in the toolbox. Even "how" had its uses. But "why" was for philosophers, theologians, and other people who liked to talk without saying anything.

Out of habit, Candra rolled her shoulders in an elegant shrug even though no one was around to stare at her loomas. "No."

"_But surely you have some speculation." _

"Could be to find out what happened to her friend_._" And of course it could be as simple as that. The whole contagion investigation could be an excuse.

"_Then you're aware of their connection?" _

"Is it the reason you don't trust Kaeldryn?"

"_Trust is not a gift given lightly." _

_And don't I know it! _She winced, thinking of what she had been through to earn their trust. "If I'm not informed, I can't perform." Since no one could see her, she indulged in an ironic grin to take away the sick feeling that came with using an Establishment catch phrase.

"_Has she done anything to justify our misgivings, or given any indication that she would under certain circumstances?" _

Candra licked her lips. The comms had monitoring software that would know if she lied, so she needed a question she could answer honestly. "Are you asking if she would violate the Code?"

"_Would she?" _

"Never. Look, just let me finish her wild chik chase so I can get back to yours."

"_Are you... dissatisfied with your assignment?" _

"Yes!"

"_May I ask why?" _

"I can tell you're new, so here's a tip-- never ask 'why'." She hit the comm to end the transmission and stuck the device back in her pocket.

She flipped the autopilot off and took the controls of her transport, needing to do something to keep her mind quiet. She could walk on the wire between truth and lies and sing and do cartwheels too, as long as someone was watching the act. It was in the quiet moments alone that she reeled and fell, not knowing which she would land in. 


	5. The Only Way Forward

"If I were going to agree to this-- and I'm not-- I would need to understand _why_, Chiana." Nerri folded his arms over his chest and shook his head.

Chiana pulled her feet up onto her bunk, folded her legs up, and rested her chin on her knees. "Well, I already told you why. It's cause I can get us out of here."

"How? How does making a datachip of something get us out of here? Look, you're asking me to risk my eema stealing equipment that I don't think has a negnik's chance of helping us get away from this frodank drenhole of a planet--"

"You're right! Ok!" She threw up her hands and let them fall. "I'll go into the temple and steal a recorder myself. Forget-- forget I asked. Ok?"

Nerri sighed and slumped against the wall. "You'd really rather do it on your own than just tell me what it is you're planning?"

"Yep."

He made a sound somewhere between a growl and a groan. "Alright. I'll get you the frelling recorder. Can you at least tell me why you don't want to tell me?"

"Cause what I'm gonna do-- it's pretty krastic."

Nerri managed a weak smile, though he looked like he might throw up at any microt. "You do realize that, coming from you, that sounds frelling terrifying? I'm trying to figure out how you can kill someone with a datachip."

"Yeah, well, don't burn your brain out on that one." She grinned and rolled her eyes. "Thanks for getting the recorder."

He put up his hands, palms out, and shook his head. "Don't thank me! I haven't gotten it yet!"

"Wrong answer. You're supposed to say, 'Thanks for getting us out of here, Chi, you're a frelling genius.'"

"You haven't done that yet either!" He chuckled, and she mentally congratulated herself on getting a real smile out of him.

"Well, you're supposed to trust me! Just like I trust you to get the recorder."

***

The pink blossoms had all closed, and a few of them had fallen off to rot on the ground. There were still plenty of beautiful things in the gardens-- shrubs carved to look like animals, fragrant, orliandis-like flowers, and hanging, variegated vines to name a few-- but Chiana found her eyes drawn most to the decomposing pink petals. They looked almost as rotten as she felt.

She leaned back against the bench and winced at the pain as she watched Derith walk toward her. When he got close enough for her to make out his facial expression, she couldn't help grinning in spite of herself. His forehead wrinkled in disapproval, but his eyes swept over her as if she were an angel of Nay'savevyen made flesh.

"Chiana! I was... tolerant before, but you cannot go around taking off your robe like this. If anyone else saw you... Do you not even care if you get punished?"

She rolled her eyes. He sounded so much like Nerri that it almost made her not want to kiss him.

"You see anyone else around here?" She spread her arms and turned her head as if surveying the area. "So, unless it bothers you, or the birds, or the bugs, I don't see a problem."

He sat down beside her, his eyes so steadily fixed on her face that it was obvious he was struggling to keep them there. "My father has asked me to relinquish my mentorship of you."

It took her a few microts to figure out he had just said he wasn't supposed to see her anymore. The way he talked-- he was worse than Kaeldryn. She bit her lip as she pondered what to say in response. He seemed to like feeling sorry for her, so she opted for, "Your dad's prob'ly right."

Derith recoiled as if struck and gave her a hurt look before nodding slowly. "Yes, of course. Forgive me... I had expected you would question his wisdom."

She laughed humorlessly. "What? And call him a frelling piece of dren for taking away the one friend I've made here? I kind of want to, but you know what? He is right. Yeah, he's absolutely right. I'm-- I'm a bad influence. You stay around me, you'll end up getting hurt. Even if-- even if I don't want you to, you will. I'll be sorry, but it won't matter. You'll be hurt."

She didn't have any problem saying that with a straight face, and the tear that accompanied her performance wasn't an affectation.

"No! No, he's... not seeing this situation with clarity!" Derith shook his head.

"You don't know what you're saying. You don't know me." She reached out and touched his cheek.

He closed his hand around hers. "I know how I feel."

She liked the way he stuck his chin out when he said that, as if he was standing up for her. She smiled and tilted her head to one side. "Yeah? How's that?"

He answered by putting one arm under her knees and the other on her shoulder and pulling her onto his lap. Before she could say anything else, his mouth was plastered to hers and one of his hands was reaching under her shift. This was so much more than she had expected; it was just like a dream she had had last sleep cycle, but there wouldn't be a krastic bell ringing to wake her up and make him disappear.

She rearranged herself so she straddled him, careful to do so without breaking the kiss. If his lips were free, he might start talking, which would lead to thinking, and that was the last thing she wanted him doing right now. She let him pull her shift up over her hips and helped him with his robe. Doing this would get her off the planet, but that wasn't what compelled her now. She had the same feeling of falling and flying that she'd had when Kaeldryn had kissed her, but increased by a few orders of magnitude. It was a horrible, krastic thing to do, but the truth was she wanted to do it, or at least this part of it.

***

Kaeldryn leaned against the hard resin wall of the shower stall and felt her flesh prickle in response to the contrast between cold wall and hot water. She held the comm close to her mouth, tapped it, and called, "Candra?"

"_Officer Kaeldryn. I thought we agreed I would report to you." _

"We did. But the modification I made to the comm ended up being too painful. It's probably easier if I contact you."

"_If you say so." _

Kaeldryn imagined Candra shrugging in a way that tested the buttons on her uniform blouse and then shook her head to banish the distracting image from her mind. "Do you really believe Chiana used a datachip recording of her and Derith to blackmail his father?"

"_It's probable." _Candra's tone came as close it ever would to "regretful."

Kaeldryn sighed. "She must have hated herself for that. It doesn't seem like her."

"_You say that as if you know her." _

"It's my job to know those I pursue. Especially those I interrogate."

"_Well said." _Candra chuckled.

"Really though-- do you believe his story?"

"_He showed me the scars from when his father beat him. And I saw the look in his eyes. All I can say is, if you were there, you would have believed him." _

"But you don't?"

"_Officer Kaeldryn..." _Candra let out a long sigh. _"I make it a matter of principle not to believe things. I only report them."_

"Well said." Kaeldryn snorted. "So he showed you his scars..." The thought of Candra in the same room with a half-naked, handsome Nebari zealot was simultaneously maddening and intriguing.

"_I'm done with that report, Kaeldryn. What data you have is what there is. I'm on Jardereen now. And I have more blood samples." _

"Oh? How many?"

"_About half, I think, judging by the stories I've gathered so far." _

"Half of what?"

"_Of the blood samples I need, clearly. And, Kaeldryn? About Chiana and that kid on Morlon... whatever she did, it was the only way forward that she could see." _


	6. Just Don't Ask

Less than an arn after arriving on Jardereen, Chiana's hand ached from Nerri's labor-strengthened grip. So she had wandered into that tavern to watch the dancers! So what? And if some weird, brown-skinned alien wanted to buy her a drink, why not let him? And yes, she had ducked into a few merchants' tents, but she hadn't stolen anything she didn't need. Most importantly, she hadn't gotten caught. Not once! She had made all these arguments to Nerri, but as usual her brother was immune to reason. He wasn't going to let go of her unless one of them lost a limb.

"So, you steal any food, little sister?" Nerri asked.

"Nope! You were glued to me by the time we walked past the food stalls. I got a knife, and a map, and some coins..."

"Coins!" Nerri grinned with relief. "Not that I approve of your methods, but frell, I'm starving! We can buy something at the next place we see."

"I've got some fruit in my pack. If you let go of me, I'll help you find it." She simpered hopefully.

"Not a chance. I'm the one-man Establishment, remember? I can dig in your pack with one hand and hold onto you with the other one."

She felt the pack chafe her still-healing skin as Nerri rummaged. After a macrot of shuffling, he pulled his hand out, gave Chiana a round, yellow fruit, and then took a bite of a lumpy green one. Juice dribbled down his chin, and like the slob he was, he wiped it with the back of his hand, then wiped his hand on his shirt, which made the whole act of wiping an exercise in futility; she would still have to wash his shirt later. Or maybe she should just let him start to reek and watch him agonize over why the girls didn't want to talk to him.

"Is this the same fruit that was being shipped here from Morlon?" Nerri shook his half-eaten green thing.

"Yeah." Chiana tossed the core of hers on the ground and wiped her own sticky hand on the front of Nerri's shirt.

"Chiana!" he groaned. "That's disgusting."

She shrugged. "I'm already gonna have to wash it."

He didn't have a response to that, of course, so he changed the subject. "How'd you manage to steal it? I thought the cargo master checked your pack."

"I didn't steal it! Why do you always assume I steal everything? I asked for it. He gave it to me."

"Well, when I asked, he said forget it. What gives?"

Chiana sighed. "Ok, so I didn't exactly ask. I begged on my knees." She looked away from Nerri and shook her head hard in a vain attempt to dislodge the memory she had just conjured.

Nerri showed no reaction. After a half-macrot or so, she glanced at her brother with a raised eyebrow and laughed. What she'd had to do wasn't funny, but the fact that Nerri hadn't picked up on her obvious hint was pretty amusing.

"What?" When he heard her laugh, he looked down at her face and studied her expression with growing alarm. He stopped chewing and coughed, sending a piece of fruit flying into some old woman's hair. "Oh! Augh-- Chiana! That's just--"

"Took you long enough!" she chided.

"I'm not stupid. I just don't think of my little sister as a tralk!" He looked down at the ground and kicked angrily at an empty bottle, which flew into the side of a building and shattered.

"Yeah, well, if I weren't a tralk, you'd still be hungry." She tossed her hair out of her eyes and stuck out her chin. "Look, just don't-- from now on, just don't ask! If I give you something, just say, 'Thanks, Chi, you're the best,' ok?"

"No, it's not frelling ok! I'd rather starve than have you think you have to do that!" He dropped her hand, as well as the mostly-eaten fruit, and took her by the shoulders. "How many times do I have to keep telling you I _will_ find work!"

"I know-- I know you will. And until you do, I'll do whatever I have to do, just like I said. It's fine. I don't care."

"Well I do. And besides, if it doesn't bother you, why are you crying?" He raised a hand to her cheek.

She'd had enough of his ungrateful, over-protective dren. She slapped his hand away, wrenched her shoulder out of his grip, and darted into the crowd. He tried to follow, calling her name, but she had both the element of surprise and her small size in her favor. She ducked under the clasped hands of a pair of brown-skinned beings, dodged a family of ugly blue people, and wormed her way through a narrow gap between buildings. After jogging down the alley for about a quarter metra, she found a back door that wasn't locked and let herself inside.

Wherever she was, it smelled kind of like orliandis smoke and she could hear music from the front room. At least it was out of the wind and away from Nerri's complaining. She huddled between two crates, careful to keep out of the line of site of anyone who might enter this back room, and rested her chin on her knees.

When her legs started to cramp, she wriggled against the crates, trying to get comfortable. A wood splinter buried itself in her thigh, and she bit back a yelp. When she leaned forward to examine the damage, her shirt caught on a protruding nail and tore. She made a mental note to snurch a needle and thread next time she got a chance. It could be fixed, she promised herself, mostly meaning the hole in her shirt.

She hoped Nerri didn't take long finding her.

***

"What is it you wish me to help you find, child?" The Finder tilted her head and regarded Candra with an affected dreamy expression.

The two woman stood in a small, candle-lit room with beads hanging in the back doorway, books lining the walls, and crystals sitting around on various small tables. The Finder herself had the same look of sensual eccentricity as her shop. Her eyes were heavily lined with black, and her low-cut, purple silk robe had enough embroidery to keep a thousand banik women busy for a year. Sequins sparkled on her hips, calling attention to a figure that almost made up for her orange hair and Interion features. Candra wondered idly if Kaeldryn would appreciate the Finder's charms. Probably not, she decided. There was just something fundamentally wrong about Interions.

"The truth, Mistress Lira." Candra took a handful of coins from her pocket, opened her hand to show them, and then put them back. "I pay a fair price and I have no use for hand waving, incense, and any other dren that makes the gleebos think you're psychic."

"I see you are one who has suffered much." Lira's hand fluttered to her own exposed cleavage under the pretext of clutching at a necklace fashioned in the shape of some unrecognizable rune.

_Yeah? What was your first clue? _Candra rolled her eyes and refrained from touching the scar between her breasts. On duty, she always kept her blouse closed to avoid questions, but it was hot on this part of Jardereen, and since she didn't have to see anyone she knew, she didn't care about the stares.

"I'm not here about me." Without being invited, she slumped into a chair and dug out a holochip. At the touch of a button, it began to play the recording she had copied.

"_Testing!" _Nerri flashed a goofy smile at the recorder and waved a hand.

"_Oh, please! Can't you think of something more original?" _Chiana demanded, shoving him aside.

Candra hit the button again and stopped the recording. She knew what was coming next and didn't feel the need to see it again. Why Derith's father had kept the thing eluded her. The best she could think of was that he wanted leverage over his son. She could think of less generous reasons why he might keep it, but decided not to dwell on those.

"The young man, I recognize him." Lira smiled and nodded.

"Oh, good! You think he's still here, or is it too late to catch him?" Candra leaned forward with feigned excitement.

"Ah, perhaps not then. The one I am thinking of, he was here just over ten cycles ago. He hired me to help find his sister. His name was... Ner--" She shrugged and shook her head, giving up on her memory.

"Nerri," Candra supplied, feeling relieved that the Finder had passed the honesty test. She swept her eyes over Lira, trying to imagine how she might look to an eighteen cycle old male with admitted nonconformist tendencies. There were times-- more and more frequently, of late-- when she could imagine being a little bit of a nonconformist herself, but still, an Interion? Just to be on the safe side, she raised an eyebrow and asked, "Would you say you remember him, ah, fondly?"

Lira laughed. "I would say half the women on Jardereen remember him fondly."

Candra called on her full store of Tranquility Guard training to avoid showing revulsion. "Then I'll need a blood sample."

"What is this about?" Lira's eyes narrowed.

"I told you, the tr--" Candra's comm chirped. She held up a hand, palm outward in a "wait" gesture, and exited the shop before answering it.

"Officer Kaeldryn?"

"_Candra..." _Her name was followed by a sound she hoped was static, although it could have been a sniffle.

"Yes, this is my comm."

"_I read your interview with the cargo master from the transport." _

"Thanks for letting me know you got the update." There had been a snort and sniffle after Kaeldryn's last statement, but she ignored them.

"_The things she had to do because of me..." _

"I don't understand." That was a half-truth, but still good enough to pass the Establishment's lie detector service, if Kaeldryn was even using it.

"_It was my fault she had to leave the Sanctuary." _

"Kaeldryn!" Candra barked the name into the comm. "Stop this! In almost two cycles working for you, I have _never _seen you lose it like this!" _And believe you me, I was looking! _"If you don't want the truth then stop digging. Order me back right now and I'll be on the host vessel in ten solar days."

"_But--" _

Candra closed her eyes and fingered the hard mass of scar tissue above her sternum. "No! Listen to me! You will be _adjusted _if you don't keep it together! Can you handle this, or should I come back now?"

There was a long pause and a sigh. _"I can handle it." _

"You'd better be able to, Kaeldryn." She ended the transmission and shoved the comm back in her pocket. _Are we still playing by the rules, or did you just tell me an outright lie? _

"Who is Kaeldryn?" From the doorway, Lira regarded Candra with open curiosity.

Candra scowled, irritated that the woman had ignored her implied order to stay put. "A pain in my eema!"

"Or in your heart?" Lira wondered aloud.

"I told you-- none of that mystic dren. Besides," she smirked and rolled her shoulders back to emphasize her chest. "I'm a heartless bitch. Or hadn't you noticed?"

"You are a poor liar, Candra. Come back inside."

She followed Lira back into the shop, feeling childishly hurt. "I'm an agent of the Tranquility Guard. I _never _lie. Every word I say is the literal truth. I have a biomechanoid replacement pump, so I really am a heartless--"

Lira looked back over her shoulder and shook her head sadly. "The essence of a lie is the intent to create a false impression, not the actual quality of falsehood."

"That's--"

"Mystic dren, I know." Lira sank into a chair, smirking. "Other than my blood, what is it you need from me?"

"Any information you have on whoever Nerri and Chiana had contact with. And your complete assurance of confidentiality."


	7. Worth a Few Sacrifices

"Up and out, stray!"

Chiana's eyes flew open at the sound of the rough voice. When she saw the face that went with the voice, she wanted to close them again. The alien's fist-sized eyes stuck out on either side of its grotesque face, which was partially covered by some sort of machine. Its mouth and nose had an unfinished look, as if the creature had been made by a sculptor who ran out of clay. She couldn't tell for sure, but she thought the thing looked angry with her. It certainly sounded angry.

"Sorry!" She pouted up at the ugly alien. "I just-- it's just cold out there. Uh, my brother, he's probably looking for me. Have you seen any other Nebari around here?"

"No Nebari here." The alien grabbed her arm and dragged her to her feet. When she tried to break away, it grabbed her other arm and pushed her through a doorway and into the front room of the business.

Chiana's mouth hung open as she surveyed the room. She had never seen so many different species under the same roof. Kaeldryn would have been able to name them all and rattle off the histories of their home worlds, too, but to Chiana they all blurred into a jumble of colors and shapes. Being in this place was like walking in the gardens on Morlon, but better; unlike the garden plants, the people moved and laughed and spoke in at least a dozen different exotic languages.

She decided this must be some sort of tavern or restaurant, since many of the people held plates or cups. Others sat clustered around a large glass boiler with several trailing, tentacle-like tubes. Each tube was being passed around like an orliandis pipe. One person would inhale from it and then hand it off to a companion with a contented sigh.

She twisted her neck so she could flash a smile at her captor. "Look, I have coins! I can pay for a drink and something to eat. Just let me stay. Please?"

"Show me," the alien growled.

"Ah, there will be no need for that. My employer can pay for the girl's meal."

The alien released Chiana and she turned to see a tall, brown-skinned woman in a sleeveless black dress. The woman had void-black hair just like a man, which made for a strange contrast with her face and figure, but other than her coloring, she looked pleasantly normal.

The woman stretched out an arm and put her hand on Chiana's shoulder, not grabbing, just guiding. "Come-- sit with me and my companions. And tell me your name, dear."

"Yeah, ok. It's Chiana." Too hungry to disagree with anyone who wanted to feed her, she let herself be lead toward a low table surrounded by cushions.

One of the woman's companions was a handsome, copper-haired man with colorful scales running down his neck, and the other was a squat, shapeless alien with hairy ears and thick lips. She remembered the ugly one from her geography lessons; it was called a Hynerian, and she and Kaeldryn had both agreed that it looked like something that should live on the bottom of a pond.

The copper-haired man gestured to one of the cushions and followed Chiana with his eyes as she sat down. He raised an eyebrow and nodded to the woman, "A Nebari! Very good, Sephi!"

The Hynerian stood on its stumpy legs, waddled closer to Chiana, and examined her with its large, yellow eyes. "Is it a pretty one? I can never tell." It poked her with one thick, stumpy finger and then reached to cup her chin.

She seized the creature's hand and twisted hard. "Stop it!"

"Are you sure it's worth feeding?" The Hynerian cradled its hand and glared first at Chiana, then at his associates.

The woman, Sephi, joined Chiana on the large cushion and put a protective arm around her shoulders. "Very sure! Chiana, this is Trev, " she pointed to the Hynerian, "and this is Bradon."

At the sound of his own name, the copper-haired man smiled and nodded.

"Hi." Chiana nodded to the two aliens. "Uh, sorry about your hand, it's just-- you kind of startled me."

Bradon waved a hand in the air. "No need to apologize for being spirited, my dear Chiana."

"Hmph!" Trev snorted. "Easy for you to say! It wasn't your hand she almost pulled off!"

Sephi laughed and squeezed Chiana's shoulders. "I think she qualifies for Tikane's project, yes?"

"Oh, yes!" Trev grinned and clapped his hands together, apparently forgetting that one of them had just been "almost pulled off".

"Tikane's project..." Bradon repeated. He snapped his fingers several times in the air and bit his lip as if trying to jog his memory. "Tikane, Tikane... Oh! Yes! _That _project! Sephi, you're brilliant! She's perfect!"

"What project?" Chiana demanded. "What am I perfect for?"

Bradon opened his mouth to reply, but Sephi held up a hand and shook her head. "Let me." She slid over to Bradon's cushion so that she faced Chiana and gave Trev a contemptuous look. "Why don't you go find Chiana something to eat while Bradon and I fill her in on our business model?"

"Frelling fine with me!" Trev muttered before waddling away.

Chiana sighed. "Look, I'd be happy to do some work for you, but right now, I just really want to find my brother."

"Another Nebari?" Bradon rubbed his hands together. "We'll keep our eyes and ears open for him!"

"Yes, we'll find your brother for you," Sephi purred. "And in the mean time, you can help us out."

"Yeah? What do I have to do?" She tilted her head to one side, curiosity and imagination running wild. Whatever they wanted her to do, she somehow doubted it was scrubbing floors.

"We make organic matrix simulations," Bradon explained. "The datachips are designed to be compatible with any standard sensory neurostimulation projector--"

Seeing Chiana's confused frown, Sephi laughed and shook her head. "Excuse Bradon. He's our electronics expert and he tends to forget the rest of us couldn't care less about his technical dren. Trev is our financial manager, so you can think of him as a purse with a big mouth. I'm the entrepreneur, and my business is making dreams come true."

"Ok." Chiana shrugged. So far all three of them sounded equally fahrbot, but they still might feed her, and she figured it didn't hurt to listen.

"Let's show her a chip." Sephi elbowed Bradon and the man pulled a case out from under the table.

"What about this one?" he pulled a datachip out of the case and held it up for Sephi's inspection.

"No!" The woman shuddered theatrically and made a face. "That will scare the frell out of her!"

Bradon shrugged. "Alright, then. This one?"

Sephi rolled her eyes. "You're revolting!" She pulled the case out of Bradon's hands and rummaged until she found a chip that made her smile. "This one!"

"Are you sure she'll like that one? It's Sebacean..." Bradon glanced from Chiana to Sephi.

"Everyone likes Sebaceans." Sephi nodded and raised an eyebrow in Chiana's direction. "Don't you agree?"

"Um, I don't know. What's a Sebacean?"

Bradon chuckled. "So much for Nebari education!"

Ignoring him, Sephi replied, "I am, dear. And the males are even prettier. Some of them, anyway."

"Oh!" Chiana grinned. "Then I've seen a lot of them around here. I think one of them wanted to buy me a drink earlier. So, sure!"

"Good, then put your hand here." Sephi opened the case wide and pointed to an electronic device sitting in the bottom of it.

***

"New priorities, Agent Jend." Kaeldryn handed her subordinate a holochip.

Instead of leaving her office, he squeezed the chip and perused the holographic document, his lips moving with every word. After a full two macrots of standing and reading, he looked up at her, frowning. "This is a full reversal of Agent Candra's policy. She always said if the Establishment couldn't provide a reason for capturing someone, they belonged at the bottom of the list. You have fifteen 'reason-unknowns' listed first and the next one down is accused of murdering his business rival's family!"

"There are crimes greater than murder." Kaeldryn folded her arms across her chest and met his eyes. "You have your--" She flinched as her comm delivered a shock to her abdomen. The electrical stabbing continued until she ran her hands down the front of her blouse and tapped the off switch as surreptitiously as possible. "--orders," she finished lamely.

"Are you feeling alright, Officer Kaeldryn? I could walk you to assessment," Jend offered.

She shook her head and forced a smile. "Thank you for your unwarranted concern. You may go."

He shrugged. "As you command, my guide. But one thing-- when Candra gets back, can I not be the one to tell her about the new policy?"

"I'll tell her myself," Kaeldryn promised.

"Then I'll have to carry you to assessment!" Jend laughed, shook his head, and then pocketed the holochip and left.

One she was sure Jend had disappeared down the hallway, Kaeldryn proceeded to her quarters where she turned on the shower and answered her comm. "Candra?"

"_Kaeldryn, have you ever considered breaking the Code? I don't mean the official Establishment version with the creative additions and judicious omissions. I mean the Code of And'wer we all read in Nebari Civ during our second year of scholar training." _

Kaeldryn swallowed hard, suddenly made anxious not just by Candra's words but by the ominous tone of her voice. "I wasn't aware you made a distinction."

"_You didn't answer my question." _

"My answer is--" she hesitated, wanting to make sure she was being absolutely clear. "My answer to the specific question you asked is a resounding 'no'! Why? Are you in trouble? If you need additional resources--"

"_No. I'm not in trouble. I just want to kill someone." _

"Is this about Chiana?"

Candra sighed. _"Ah, forget it. I shouldn't have commed you. Look, she was alive and well when you saw her last, so you know things turned out ok for her. That's what matters." _

"You've confirmed the contagion?" Kaledryn whispered the question and slid down the wall to sit on the floor, feeling suddenly dizzy.

"_No. I don't even have a statistical set of blood samples yet. It's just... evil comes in all sizes, from genocide to basement crimes." _

"Stay focused, Candra! You can't afford to become attached to your subject like this!"

Candra chuckled bitterly. _"Thanks. I needed a laugh. And coming from you..." _

"Just keep collecting samples! I just gave Jend the order to prioritize all the fugitives I think may have been part of the exodus. I'll have samples from them as well."

"_Frell! What were you thinking?" _

"I was thinking we need more data to confirm or refute the existence of the contagion."

"_You can't let them all go, Kaeldryn. You going to turn them in for adjustment after you've got their blood?" _

Kaeldryn felt her cheeks burn with shame. She nodded, but of course Candra couldn't see her, so she forced her voice to work. "Yes."

"_Reverse the order you just gave. Now. Get off the frelling comm and go find Jend. Tell him you made a mistake." _

"This is bigger than a few individuals! We're talking about learning the truth. What was done to those people, what we think may have been done to those people... Candra, sometimes the truth is worth a few sacrifices."

"_So you value the greater good over the individual, Kael?" _

"Yes--"

"_You answered to 'Kael'. So it was you she was talking about to the people I interviewed. She missed 'Mom' and 'Dad' and 'Kael'. She loved you. Were you like sisters, Kael? Were you... close? Would you sacrifice her?" _

"No."

"_Then leave the others alone. Go after the dangerous ones on the list like you always have." _

"Agent Candra..." Kaeldryn tried to make her voice sound cold, but it shook. "You say that as if you could give me an order."

"_Don't test me, Kaeldryn! You want something from me-- namely my cooperation and my silence with regard to this endeavor. That means I actually can order you." _

"Alright! And what about you? Are you living by the ideals you're imposing on me, or are you becoming a murderer?"

"_I'm not sure those are mutually exclusive." After a long pause, she added in a softer tone, "Kaeldryn? Thanks." _

"For letting you extort me?"

"_For not making me sacrifice you. I don't want to, Kael." _The comm went dead.

Kaeldryn make a wordless sound of frustration. She had had one more message for Candra. She had wanted to tell Candra she was right about the fugitives. 


	8. Perspectives

For a microt, Chiana fell through a dizzying mental void. Panicking, she tried to pull her hand back from the device only to find that her body no longer existed. She considered the possibility that she might be dead; after all, kids at school had told stories about people who accepted gifts from strangers and became unwilling organ donors. Bradon and Sephi certainly seemed tinked enough to do that to someone, but this didn't seem like hezmana, not the way they'd described it on Morlon. There should be an arch-hazmot reading a list of her sins, or at least a summary of the main ones, and there should be a couple of minion hazmots ready to slap her in chains and take her to the ice mines.

Her feet-- she had feet again!-- landed on something warm and yielding, and when she looked down, she saw her bare toes half-covered in sand. A rushing sound interspersed with the cries of birds filled the air, and when she turned to look behind her, she saw water lapping at the glittering sand. Wherever she had been transported, it must be a planet, one with blue skies and warm oceans. Hezmana was supposedly a realm of ice and void, so that meant she couldn't possibly dead. She still looked around for hazmots, just in case.

"Are you enjoying the simulation environment, dear?"

Sephi's voice came from behind Chiana, and she whirled around, startled. "Simulation? You mean this is all fake?"

"Bradon's a genius, yes?" Sephi grinned and spread her arms wide. "It's all rendered based on recordings of the Royal Planet."

"But, we're _here!_" Chiana protested, shaking her head. She drug a toe through the sand just to verify that she wasn't fahrbot. As she moved her leg, she noticed that she wore a short, beaded skirt, and when she looked down at her chest, she saw a garment made from two patches of cloth and some cords. It had beads too, little silver ones that glittered like stars against the deep blue fabric.

"No, actually, we're still in the tavern on Jardereen with our hands on the ensp." Seeing Chiana's confusion, she clarified, "The N-S-P. Neurostimulation projector, or 'ensp'. Think of it like a holochip projector that plays dreams instead of vids."

Chiana nodded, fingering the fabric of her skirt with a twinge of regret. She wished she could bring the outfit with her when she went back to her real body. "I get it. Well, this is pretty, it's just... kinda boring, don't you think?"

Sephi responded with a rich laugh that was far too musical to be genuine. She probably spent arns practicing that laugh so she could pretend to be amused instead of irritated. "It _is _just the background, Chiana! Code seven six dash twelve."

When she spoke the numbers, people-- more specifically, Sebeaceans-- flashed into existence all over the beach. A pair of deeply brown, golden-haired women played in the waves, splashing each other and laughing as if being hit with water were the funniest thing in the world. Watching them made her homesick for Kaeldryn, so she looked the other way and admired a group of young men playing a game that involved running and tossing a ball.

They all wore shorts made from the same soft fabric as her skirt, and none of them had shirts, so she had a nice view of their well-shaped, if oddly colored, bodies. Her favorite was a tall, slim boy her own age who had hair so light it looked like a Nebari female's. After he carried the ball across a line, some of the men cheered and slapped him on the back, while others, probably members of the opposing team, shrugged and shook their heads in a cheerful acknowledgment of defeat. Like the two women, they seemed so content it was creepy.

"They'll invite you to play, if you like," Sephi told her.

"So they're using ensps too?" Chiana asked.

"Oh, no!" Sephi's laugh sounded real this time. "They aren't people. They're hardly even AI's, to be honest. Bradon has limited staff, and we focus on the visuals, as you can tell. Each character has a specific set of predefined actions. Those young men will play the game with each other, or with an experiencer who decides to join them. If the experiencer wishes a more... personal interaction with one or more of them, that's possible as well, within their parameters of response."

"That explains why they're so..."

"Beautiful?" Sephi supplied. "We are highly selective."

Chiana shook her head. "I was gonna say 'so fake'."

Sephi shrugged. "Reality has its limitations, Chiana. We've transcended them to create a perfect experience."

"I know." Chiana glanced back at the two girls for a moment before fixing her eyes on the silver haired boy. He looked almost nothing like Derith, which was why she could enjoy looking at him without too much remembered guilt getting in the way. "I get it. I do. They can't-- they can't fall in love with you, can't get hurt because of what you do with 'em, no matter how tinked or how krastic it is."

"Don't ever pursue a career in marketing, Chiana," Sephi remarked dryly. "We give the experiencer a chance to live out his or her most amazing fantasies, and you make it sound positively dismal!"

"No. It's drad. I like it here. Look, what is it you want me to do for you? You want to make one of them out of me?" She jerked her head toward the girls.

Sephi nodded. "We would record your responses and movements in various situations."

"I don't know..." Chiana tilted her head from side to side. "It's kinda creepy. I mean, I wouldn't mind playing with one of them, but _being _one? Nerri's never going to let me hear the end of this, by the way! At least, not unless it's worth so much he can't complain."

"You're a strong negotiator, my dear." Sephi heaved a dramatic sigh and threw up her hands. "Alright! You have me in a corner here! I've been looking for the perfect Nebari for monens now, so I can't afford to let you get away. In fact, I can promise you that the compensation for this project will be enough to last you the rest of your life."

"Frell! I mean, uh, that sounds fair!" Chiana grinned, imagining how Nerri would look when she dropped a sack full of currency at his feet. Of course people with that much money generally used credits, not currency, but still.

"'Frell' indeed. Stay and enjoy yourself Chiana. The exit code is 'wake up'. Say it twice and you'll be back on Jardereen. If you forget, just ask one of the characters. They're not exactly storehouses of knowledge, but they do know that. Wake up. Wake up." With that, she disappeared, leaving Chiana alone with the mindlessly laughing girls and the empty-eyed young men.

***

"You're magnificent, dear, really, except for the scar, which could be covered up, but we're just not looking for Nebari right now." The black-haired Secacean woman smiled at Candra and shook her head, oozing false sympathy.

"Well, I'm looking for you, Sephi Lydian. So I really don't care what you think of my loomas, my scar, or my race. You make this?" She took the ensp chip out of her pocket and flipped it onto the woman's desk.

Sephi looked down at the chip and then up at Candra, her face exhibiting a fascinating color change from brown to red to white. Candra hadn't been around many Sebaceans, so she didn't know for sure, but she thought that color sequence must be Sebacean for "I'm frelled."

"Well?" Candra prompted, leaning forward on the heel of her hand and tapping her fingers on the desk.

"Ah, are you an advocate?" Sephi asked. "Because we reached a settlement with Tikane regarding the quality issues on the Nebari character..."

"Worse. I'm Tranquility Guard."

"I see. Then you have no jurisdiction outside the Nay'savevyen system, so I fail to see how you can walk into my business, make demands, and expect anything resembling cooperation from me!" Sephi reached for something, probably either a comm or a weapon, but Candra grabbed her wrist and twisted hard, making the Secacean whimper in pain. "Ah-- alright! What is it you want from me?"

"Much better." Candra released her wrist and smiled sweetly. "It's simple, really. I want you to watch that chip. You got an ensp handy?"

"That's a ten cycle old chip!" Sephi protested. "You can't possibly expect..."

"You promise your customers retrocompatibility. You lying to them, or to me?"

Sephi reached into a drawer, pulled out a neurostimulation projector, and put the chip inside. "If you expect me to be shocked by the contents, tig, think again. I've seen worse than this little bit of fluff."

Candra reached across the desk and caught both of Sephi's hands in hers, holding them just above the ensp. "See, here's the thing. Before I was a tig, I was mindcraft, and not just routine adjustments and cleansing. I was a sublevel five scholar-- research and development. Taking your scenario and reversing the perspectives? It took me a half arn, at most."

"Reversing the...?" Sephi's skin lightened another shade; it almost matched Candra's now.

"Perspectives," Candra finished, nodding. "You heard right. Oh, and Sephi? There's no exit code, so don't bother screaming."

She slammed both of the woman's hands down onto the ensp and watched as her face went slack.


End file.
